


love will find you

by blackwell



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Tower, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Jane Foster Loves Science, Light Angst, POV Darcy Lewis, SHIELD Agent Darcy Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 23:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2485811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwell/pseuds/blackwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>B-side of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2033580">caught between confusions</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	love will find you

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the wait on this! I was going back and forth for some time on how to write it.

Rabbit-Beasts.

That’s what Thor calls them, anyway. Darcy can’t remember the name Fury has for them, but she knows it’s several syllables long and alliterative in all the ways that make words hard to say.

As SHIELD’s new Social Media Advisor, she makes an executive decision to refer to them as Rabbit-Beasts.

They’re a lot scarier than they sound, all mangy and fanged and snarling. From above, in the helicopter, she can see that their fur is already matted with blood, and she winces. It’s possible SHIELD sent her in too early; she really doesn’t think there need to be any pictures of this on Twitter.

The copter has landed, and she bites her lip. She still has her camera in her lap, but only because she’s using it as a stress ball. 

“Take off.”

“Ma’am?”

“Take off. I’m not supposed to be here, I’ll only get in the way.”

That’s when the front end of the helicopter crumples. Darcy slides forward, slams her head on something, screams a little. She’s too panicked to scream a lot.

It was a nice idea, being a SHIELD agent, but she clearly wasn’t cut out for it. And now she’s going to die. 

But then she’s being lifted—lifted up, up, up—and she’s staring at the Hulk’s great green face. She’s always liked the Hulk, really, but panic is panic, and she’s not quite in her right mind. He says something; she says something back. What? She doesn’t really remember.

After the battle, when they’re back in New York, Barton slings an arm around her shoulders and congratulates her on the hot date she’s got coming up with Jolly Green. And then she remembers a little.

“Wow. I really took that one in a stride, didn’t I?”

“I’ll say.” Barton snorts. “Battle calm, I think.”

She hums a little, thinking. “What’s that?”

“Sometimes…” His voice trails off, but then he continues, stronger. “Sometimes, when you’re fighting, it all goes black. You act without thinking, but not thoughtlessly. You know what I mean?”

“I think so.” It’s a pretty apt description, all things considered.

Barton is making his way down the hall ahead of her already—he isn’t one to linger. After a moment, though, he stops, turns around. “Darcy?”

“Yeah?”

“You did good. Kept your head and all. Bruce is a lucky guy.”

She grins. “You’re damn right he is.”

~

It’s all bravado, though. Or, well, 90% bravado. 85%?

The fact is that Darcy has no idea if she has a date with Bruce or not. Just because the Hulk is interested doesn’t mean his smaller, gentler, and frankly more attractive counterpart is as well.

Every time she sees him, she scrutinizes Bruce’s face for some sort of clue. She’s a little afraid she’s coming off as creepy, because the fact is that she sees a lot of Bruce these days—Jane and Thor have all but moved into the Tower, and that’s resulted in Darcy spending a lot more time there than she used to.

Darcy might work for SHIELD now, technically speaking, but as Jane points out, “it’s really amazing how important a poli sci student can become to the field of astrophysics.”

Jane’s just being diplomatic—a concept that Darcy takes great pride in knowing nothing about, which goes a long way toward explaining why she didn’t excel in her chosen major. But she’s smart enough to know that doodling in the margins of Jane’s notebooks as she sits at her telescope on the roof of the Tower isn’t exactly helpful. Jane just likes the company.

It’s not in Jane’s nature to admit that outright, though, and thus Darcy’s new five-point plan: Get Jane Foster to Admit She Enjoys Girl Talk (aka Operation Annoying Intern).

She starts with the basics: ‘how’s Thor doing?’ becomes ‘how’s Thor doing _in bed_?’ and that in turn becomes ‘the merits of Midgardian and Asgardian penises, compared.’

Jane doesn’t seem that into it, though. She stares at the stars and jots down notes and nods assent at all the right times, but it’s nothing like the conversations Darcy used to have with her two college housemates.

On Monday of the third week of Operation Annoying Intern, she heaves a sigh and says, “You don’t really like talking about this stuff with me, do you?”

Jane is standing up, sketching something on the creamy white page of her notebook, and she does not meet Darcy’s eyes. There’s nothing evasive about her voice, though, when she says. “I like it fine. I’m just wondering when you’re going to start talking about what you really want to talk about.”

Darcy gets quiet after that.

~

The next day, Jane knocks on her office door around 10:00 in the morning.

“Hey,” she says softly, standing in front of her desk.

This is obviously the beginning of an apology, but Darcy hates that sort of thing, so she swivels her computer monitor around. “Hey, check out the new Twitter I started. It’s for…”

Her voice trails off, because she’s just realized that Jane isn’t alone. Bruce is standing right behind her.

“I know what’s been bothering you, Darce,” Jane says. “So I fixed it.”

Jane is an astrophysicist through and through.

Unfortunately, Darcy is far too embarrassed to appreciate her right now. Her face is burning, and she has no idea what Jane said to Bruce, but she already wishes she could sink into the floor and die.

But Bruce’s hand, rough and wide, cups her cheek, and there’s nothing to do but meet his eyes.

“Jane told Thor to tell me you were upset. Because you didn’t know if the Other Guy meant it, what he said. About you and I.”

He chooses that moment to pause, and she could slap him—she really could.

“Well, he did.”

She can’t help it—she smiles so wide she thinks her face might break open with it, and then his thumb is tracing her lip. A second later, it’s replaced with his mouth, and she almost laughs out loud as she kisses him back.

**Author's Note:**

> My [tumblr](http://blackwellwrites.tumblr.com/), if you're interested.


End file.
